Executive Compensation at Kaiser Health
Kaiser Health is one of many terms (Kaiser, Kaiser Permanente, etc) that refers to one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health care insurers and providers with more than 12 million members (primarily in California but also in Hawaii, Colorado, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia). With 39 hospitals, more than 700 medical offices, and about 220,000 employees, Kaiser Health is considered one of the leaders in the industry.
Kaiser Health is comprised of the health plan (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc), the hospitals (Kaiser Foundation Hospitals) and the medical groups (Permanente Medical Groups) although there are numerous non-profits that make up the entire organization. The focus of this post is on the executive compensation reported on the Form 990 of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. because this organization reports the paid compensation for the key executives including the Chairman and CEO (as opposed to a related organization reporting compensation from a related organization).
The most recent IRS Form 990 available is for 2016. The 76 employees listed below were compensated approximately $80 million:
- $10,039,235: Bernard Tyson, Chairman and CEO
- $ 5,345,394: Donna Lynne, EVP, GP and Reg President Colorado
- $ 3,269,827: Kathryn Lancaster, EVP and CFO
- $ 3,240,051: Arthur Southam, EVP, Health Plan Operations
- $ 3,145,675: Gregory Adams, EVP and Group President
- $ 2,536,195: Benjamin Chu, EVP, GP and Region President, Southern Cal
- $ 2,174,175: Richard Daniels, EVP, CIO
- $ 2,013,298: Wade Overgaard, SVP, Health Plan Options, California
- $ 2,000,147: Mark Zemelman, SVP, General Counsel and Secretary
- $ 1,964,489: Charles Columbus, SVP, Chief HR Officer
- $ 1,775,534: Janet Liang, Regional President, Northern Cal
- $ 1,516,914: Michael Rowe, SVP, CFO, Northern Cal
- $ 1,417,283: Patrick Courneya, EVP, Chief Medical Officer
- $ 1,362,490: Charles Bevilacqua, SVP, HP Products, Svc and Admin
- $ 1,362,081: Raymond Baxter, SVP, CB Research and Health Policy
- $ 1,349,152: Cesar Villalpando, SVP, Enterprise Shared Svcs
- $1,345,769: Anthony Barrueta, SVP, Government Relations
- $ 1,307,872: Julie MillerPhipps, Regional President Southern Cal
- $ 1,304,076: George Disalvo, SVP, CFO – Southern Cal
- $ 1,279,544: Mary Ann Barnes, Region President, Hawaii
- $ 1,278,137: Paul M Swenson, SVP and Chief Strategy Officer
- $ 1,189,582: Thomas Meier, SVP, Corporate Treasurer
- $ 1,152,155: Donald Orndoff, SVP, NFS
- $ 1,142,726: Gerald McCall, SVP, Operations
- $ 1,139,765: Daniel Garcia, SVP, Chief Compliance Officer
- $ 1,097,295: Debora Lynn Catsavas, SVP, HR – Northern Cal
- $ 1,088,899: Thomas Curtin, SVP, National Sales and Acct Mgmnt
- $ 1,038,266: Dennis L Dabney, SVP, Labor Relations
- $ 1,033,498: James Simpson, SVP, Finance BU and ROC
- $ 1,005,143: Ron Groepper, SVP and Area Manager
- $ 987,275: Robert Beltch, Chief Audit Executive
- $ 984,380: Mick Diede, SVP, Chief Actuary
- $ 977,584: Gay Westfall, SVP, Special Projects
- $ 957,024: Christine Paige, SVP, Marketing and Internet Services
- $ 850,483: Christopher Ohman, VP Health Plan Expansion
- $ 839,577: John Yamamoto, Assistant Secretary
- $ 810,291: Vanessa Benavides, SVP, Chief Comp and Priv Officer
- $ 777,360: Laurel Junk, VP, Chief Procurement Officer
- $ 738,759: Sandra Golze, Asst Secretary, Northern Cal
- $ 724,926: Alfonse Upshaw, SVP, Corp Controller and CAO
- $ 583,277: Jerry C Fleming, SVP, Health Reform Implement
- $ 551,494: Wayne Swafford, VP, National Facilities Svc – ROC
- $ 513,713: Thomas W Chapman, EDD, Director
- $ 507,864: Deborah Stokes, SVP, Corp Controller and CAO
- $ 494,836: Bechara Choucair, SVP, Community Health and Benefits
- $ 452,348: David Kvancz, VP, National Pharmacy Programs and Services
- $ 450,014: Kendall Hunter, SVP, Health Ins Exchange Opns
- $ 435,112: Frank Richardson, Ass’t Secretary, Hawaii
- $ 431,277: Hong-Sze-Yu, Assistant Secretary
- $ 429,022: Carlos Zaragoza, Assistant Secretary
- $ 392,460: Rochelle Roth, Assistant Secretary
- $ 365,977: Karen Emmons, VP, Research and Dir KFRI
- $ 353,210: Jacqueline Sellers, Asst Secretary
- $ 247,358: Margaret E Porfido, Director
- $ 244,739: Edward Pei, Director
- $ 240,707: Judith A Johansen, Director
- $ 229,371: Phillip A Manneau, Director
- $ 225,809: David Hoffmeister, Director
- $ 218,511: Victoria Zatkin, VP, Off of Board and Corp Gov Svcs
- $ 216,547: Kim J Kaiser, Director
- $ 215,118: Leslie S Heiz, Director
- $ 223,809: Cynthia A Telles, Director
- $ 212,000: Richard Shannon, Director
- $ 206,871: Jeffrey E Epstein, Director
- $ 199,780: Maryann Bodayle, Ass’t Secretary
- $ 197,178: Regina M Benjamin, MD, Director
- $ 186,626: Eugene Washington, Director
- $ 162,307: Diane Gage-Lofgren, SVP, Brand Mgmnt and Comm
- $ 156,270: Mitchell Goodstein, SVP, Actuarial, U/W and Pricing
- $ 155,756: Cynthia Overmyer, SVP, Internal Audit
- $ 154,247: Jed Weissberg, SVP, Quality and Care Del Excel
- $ 152,591: Ramon F Baez, Director
- $ 142,478: Herman Weil, SVP, Federal and State Programs
- $ 46,000: Neil Purcell, Director
- $ 41,378: George Halvorson, Chairman
- $ 27,039: Eugene Grisby, III, Director
50 of the 76 (66%) of the most highly compensated employees are male while 26 (34%) are female. It is important to note that a large portion of the bottom third of the list includes compensation for directors of the organization. So, if we look at the 50 most highly compensated individuals, 36 of the 50 (72%) are male, while 14 (28%) are female. 8 of the 10 most highly compensated employees are male while 2 are female.
The Form 990 also reports:
- First class or charter travel was paid for by the organization. According to the 990 “first class travel is permissible as an ordinary business expense for all Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officers, 13 other officers, and one key employee…”
- Travel for companions was paid for by the organization, “as approved by senior management infrequently..”
- The CEO’s non business transportation is included in compensation tax indemnification and gross cup payments.
- Limited to partial gross up payments under relocation policy along with CEO’s transportation and security was paid for by the orgnaization.
- A housing allowance wa provided on a limited basis to four officers and one key employee for relocation.
- Robert Belch was provided a $100,000 loan for relocation. The balance due is $100,000.
To read the IRS Form 990 (2016), click here.
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Paddock Post 
I’m outraged! I’m a KP employee and management constantly preaches about affordability to the point of decreasing our promised benefits at the time of hire. They have come as far as to limit the building housekeeping for trash removal from everyday to once a week! Another one is by enforcing us to not waste paper by either reusing the other side of the printer paper. And yet here’s the executives flying first class including their family and guests! What a slap in the face! Last year we had an employee who retired after 25 years and in the past it was the norm to have some sort of going away party (not to exceed a certain amount of course). However, this time our request was denied due to “budget” and “affordability”. Another example is Julie Miller Phipps. She sends these lengthy affordability emails trying to justify why we must be frugal and yet according to the Form 990 she makes over 1 million a year! She must be a psychopath to be able to send those emails and not feel like a hypocrite.